While the term hacking usually comes with a bad connotation attached, there are good hackers out there, also known as white hats, who use their hacking skills for good. This comes in the form of testing out security for companies and also to help find flaws or exploits in programs that could be used by those with malicious intent. However a new proposal by the European Union could be looking at trying to pass a law in which the production or selling of hacking tools could be made illegal.
Essentially this would make it impossible for security companies to create tools to test their own security, or the security of others since it technically could be used as a cyber attack by others with less noble intentions. While the majority of the EU seems to be in favor of this new law, some have argued that such a law could undermine legitimate research carried out by white hats, and that the intent of user should be taken into account before prosecution. A final decision of the proposal is expected to be made over the summer.
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